Dr Reddy's stock slides after adverse patent ruling
Published: Feb 17, 2017
By TIOLCORP News Service
NEW DELHI, FEB 17, 2017: SHARES of Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell by nearly 4% after the company said it has received an unfavourable ruling in the US court regarding a patent infringement case over anti-nausea injection Aloxi. Reacting to this, shares of the company went down by 3.66% to hit its one year low of Rs 2,803.50 on BSE. On NSE, it fell by 3.86% to Rs2,798.95-its 52-week low. In a BSE filing, Reddy's Laboratories said that the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey issued its opinion regarding Helsinn Healthcare's patent infringement claims against Dr Reddy's proposed palonosetron product.
The court found that Dr Reddy's proposed palonosetron hydrochloride 0.25 mg/5 ml infringes on certain claims of the US patents and that the asserted claims were not valid. Helsinn Healthcare SA is a Switzerland-based pharma company. The company is disappointed with the decision and intends to pursue an appeal in due course.
Aloxi injection is used in adults to help prevent the nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy.
Dr Reddy's had filed a new drug application (NDA) for Aloxi about three years ago, and Helsinn had challenged it. The court found that Dr Reddy's proposed drug – palonosetron hydrochloride 0.25 mg/5 ml – infringes on certain claims of US patents. Later, Dr Reddy's received an approval from the USFDA for generic Aloxi in March 2016 after it settled patent litigations relating to its anti-nausea injection Aloxi. The settlement will allow it to market the generic version of Aloxi in the US on September 30, 2018, or earlier, under certain circumstances.
